The time has come to begin narrowing down the facts you will use as you write your children's book.
If you have chosen the story or poem organizational pattern:
Sort your index cards into 3 piles: common knowledge, intriguing details, and irrelevant facts/details.
Prioritize the common knowledge details. Draw a triangle in the corner of each card you want to make sure you include. Try to limit yourself to 5-10 cards, and try to make sure that the details you choose are related to each other.
Now, prioritize your intriguing details. Draw a star in the corner of each card that contains a detail you want to make sure you include. Try to limit yourself to 3-5 cards, and try to make sure that the details you choose are related to each other and your common knowledge cards.
If you have chosen the scrapbook organizational pattern:
Sort all of your cards into groups based on their subject matter. You should have 6-8 groups.
Within each group, sort your index cards into 3 piles: common knowledge, intriguing details, and irrelevant facts/details.
For each group, you should have:
2-3 common knowledge cards
2-3 intriguing detail cards
1-2 irrelevant fact/detail cards
If you don't have enough cards to meet the criteria, go do more research.
If you don't have enough cards to meet the criteria, go do more research.